Bhubaneswar: Amid the soaring mercury, morning classes for Class I to XII students in Odisha with 7 am-10 am timing began on Tuesday.
Collectors, however, have been allowed to bring changes to the schedule of morning classes depending on the weather in their districts. The schools have also been asked to ensure provision of drinking water and other required facilities.
The School and Mass Education department has also rescheduled time for disbursement of pension to beneficiaries of various social security schemes between 7.30 am and 10.30 am.
While the maximum temperature in the state crossed the 40-degree Celsius mark for the first time this year, the previous day, Bhubaneswar recorded 32 degree Celsius by 8.30 this morning.
Notably, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a spike in temperature in several parts of the county in the next five days. “A significantly higher number of heatwave days are predicted over parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana,” said IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mahapatra.
According to weather experts, the normal temperature at many places in the state may touch 40 degrees Celsius by April 12. “There has been a decline in thunderstorm activity and this will lead to an increase in day temperature by 2 to 3 degrees at some places during the next two to three days,” Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Scientist Umasankar Das told the media.
